Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-10-03
PRACTICAL IDOIATRY
SERMON LAST EVENING BY REV.
A 7. NEEDHAM.
The Nude in Art Conference.-The
Impure Thoughts Suggested
Are Debasing.


Heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth.
Thou shalt not bow down myself to them,
nor serve them, for the LoTd my COG lana am a
upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them tina. hate me-
And showing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me and keep my commandments
Great prominence is given to this first
great sin of idolatry. This one of the Ten
Commandments is especially long and ex-
plicit. All of sacred history is full of refer
ences to Gods judgment against it. Every
phase of idolatry is obnoxious to the Lord.
This form of worship however, is not so
absurd as one is often led to believe. Plato,
Aristotle and Socrates and others of their
age of equally as brilliant minds were
idolaters. Some of the most astute minds
of China and India to-day are idolaters.
They worship under symbol what they re-
gard God.
The minister then gave the two most
popular interpretations OF idolatry. That of
the Protestant, is the worship of the Deity
in symbolic form.
Humanity cannot believe that the thing
made by human hands is God himself.
There is no species of idolatrv upon the
face of the earth that looks upon a tangible
object as the Deity. The papal interpreta-
ton says it is not idolatry to bow down be-
fore, but to an idol. The heather, while ne
has shrine at which he bows down and
worships, he also burns ire-crackers to
drive away the evil spirits and sounds a
gong to call the gods. The God to him is
spiritual, does not reside in the idol The
idol in the Joss house is not the God but
the thing in which the God will come to
manifest himself. There is no heather re-
ligion but that regards all things as having
both material and spiritual form. While
the savage bows down and worships
the stick and the stone, while they have
visible form to them they also have a spir-
itual existence invisible to the eve. The
idol itself is not regarded as a god. When
Aaron was induced by some of his people
to make the golden calf, he did not mean
to infer that the calf had led
them through the depths of the
Red Sea, but that the calf was a
symbol of the Deity that had so led
them. 1t was this that caused God to abhor
idolatry and to give his commandment
against it to Moses. No symbol is to be set
up of the true God. They must take away
all objects and visible forms and worship
God in spirit and in truth. God as a spirit
cannot be worshiped in any visible form
that man can create. God is Incompetent
slble-bevond mans thought of coneep-
ton. humanity cannot have a proper
conception of Deity.
Then saith Jesus to Thomas, Reach hitherthy
finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither
thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be
not faithless but believing"
And Thomas answered and said unto him
" My Lord and my God"
, Jesus saith unto him, " Thomas, because thou
mast seen me thou hast believed; blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have believed
1t is this that God requires of us. There
IS strong tendency in the human mind to
embody thought in material form. There
probably never was a time in the history of
the world when art was brought to such
perfection as in the present. Particularly
so is this the case in advertising. Plastered
upon your fences are works of art that are
a credit to our age. The theater bills of
to-day are specimens of the very highest
degree of art. The theater men were not
slow TO discover the kind of art most likely
to attract notice, and in consequence the
most voluDtuous female forms predomi-
nate. The tobacconists publish and urint
female beauty in semi-nudity and some
times almost nude. Their attractiveness
brings into prominence the material adyer-
Used. Young men carry these impure pic
lures in their pockets, they are displayed
in barbershops and saloons, and are calcu-
lated to debase the youth of our country.
The nude in many instances predominant
in the art gallery. In that respect we are
no better than those III the past, and we
are no less liable TO be led astray than those
in the preceding ages. The Police Gazette
lntiames the passions, and the Young man
who reads it will feel its degrading effects,
and manifest a weakness of morals and
of thought. A Young man
who can read such literature and not be
corrupted, must be as incorruptible as st.
Anthony himself. The thoughts suggested
by such reading are debasing. shame to
him who evil thinks" is useless advice to
one who chooses such reading matter.
The speaker said some time since he at
tended reception of a California million
aire for the purpose of viewing his art gal
lery, paintings and statuary. Among the
latter were few pieces which out of defer
ence to the company were partly draped in
muslin. In another portion of the build
ing was the statue of departed child. 1t
was clad as other children-no nudity was
admissible here. The nude in art was not
wanted when it comes to those they love.
The nude for the vile. The time was when
France stood at the head of the world in
art, but Germany some years ago entered
the contest, and to-day Munich and Vienna
stand unparalleled. In the art galleries of
those two great cities, like those in the
capital of France, the nude predominates.
II has demoralizing and corruptiug
influence, and today the records show
that of the births in those two cities. 43 per
cent. in Munich and so per cent in Vienna
are illegiumate. When art in Greece de-
scended to the nude there was the greatest
RIGHTEOUSNESS among that people; it began
to wave and finally fell
Is there no beauty in art outside of the
nude? The speaker then referred to tie
beautiful group of statuary in the rotunda
of the State Capitol. To bring out soul in
matter is the perfection of art He then, in
the most beautiful word painting, described |
the statuary familiar to all who have
visited the Capitol. Columbus kneeling
before Isabella, sphere representing the |
world in his hand, explaining to her an
other way OF reaching the East Indies by
sailing west. 1t represents a man whose |
brain was filled with gigantic thoughts and
projects. The page an interested listener
who eyes the sphere intently and wonders
if it can be true that the world is round.
And then you see Isabella, who, having
faith in the words of Columbus, is deter
mined TO allow him to carry out his theo-
ries even if in doing so it should be neces-
sary TO part with her jewels. Examine the
delicate tracing of the chisel and see if
this is not wonderful piece of art In
this statuary there is manifested all that is
essential to bring out everything that is
worthy in art. Take for instance. the
Rogers groups of statuary. They are so
true to nature that in every group a
thought is expressed everything seems to
speak.
The next thing the speaker referred to
was the craze some women had of worship
ing some person who, to them, was
hero, because they were looked upon as
martyrs. He could perhaps excuse the
Philistine women who fell in love with
Samson, who was remarkable for his great
strength, or the American women who
were in love with John L. Sullivan, who
has remarkably fine physique; but VINO
can tolerate the women who are worship
ing the Chicago Anarchist Most and his
fellow murderers? Women who fall in
love with such men who are posing IS
martyrs for their diaboiical crimes are
moral monstrosities. They should be ban
ished to an insane asylum and fed On
calves brains until they show some mental